AUGUST 17, 1955

LOS ANGELES—Last Thursday we drove in the morning to a ranch a little to the South which my son and daughter-in-law have just acquired for the winter feeding of their cattle. It is about 10 degrees warmer in winter and it had a delightful location on a hill overlooking a wide expanse of valley with mountains in the distance. The house has a great deal of charm and will be a very pleasant place for the ranch people to move to when the weather starts getting colder.

We also drove to the top of a nearby hill overlooking the hills to see how the second crop of alfalfa was coming along. It looked flourishing as did a crop of oats. We got home in time to lunch with Elliott at 12:30. He had been haying all morning and left us again at one to spend the afternoon in the fields.

In the afternoon we drove up to see a veteran of World War I, George Herrell, who somehow manages to ride and go hunting in spite of his wooden leg. He has been having a little trouble with the government and his neighbors over a bridge on his property but he agreed to let us come and see him and he took us in his jeep to some wonderful views high up in the mountains which he had shown us last year. He is a marvelous shot and every autumn takes parties out hunting.

In the mail I have just received from Mr. George Weaver, acting chairman of the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing, a most disturbing report. It appears that on July 25th Mr. Albert Cole, the administrator of government housing, notified Mr. Frank Horne, assistant to the administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, and his assistant, Corienne Morrow, that they were being eliminated on account of "budgetary considerations."

In October 1953 Dr. Horne had been reassigned to his present position after having been dismissed from the Racial Relations Service for political reasons. In putting him in, Dr. Cole said in part: "The need for these services at the policy level is apparent as more and more cities in their efforts to clear slums and remedy blight, face the need for new and more effective means for housing minorities." The "budgetary reasons" do not seem very valid for the grant this year was $5,000,000 as compared to $2,868,500 last year.

There are many facts in this case which make it seem highly unfair and a very bad course of action. Dr. Cole advised the Judiciary Committee of the House to go slow in considering racial segregation bans involving government housing and in government housing insurance. This should not be the policy in any national agency and it is hoped that these two people will be re-instated as there are very few Negroes employed at their level and yet Negroes are among those needing better housing in almost every city in this country.